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Toronto Maple Leafs: Kyle Clifford to Test Free Agent Market

By James Tanner

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 05: Kyle Clifford #73 of the Toronto Maple Leafs collides with Matt Roy #3 of the Los Angeles Kings during the first period at Staples Center on March 05, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 05: Kyle Clifford #73 of the Toronto Maple Leafs collides with Matt Roy #3 of the Los Angeles Kings during the first period at Staples Center on March 05, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs got a little less gritty today.

The Toronto Maple Leafs fourth line winger Kyle Clifford is an unrestricted free-agent, and he won’t re-sign with the team at least until he tests the waters, according to Terry Koshan.

While there was speculation that Leafs GM Kyle Dubas long ties to Clifford might be enough to bring him back at a discount, it appears that the free agent will hit the open market, where he almost certainly will get a massive overpayment.

For the Leafs, this is a best case scenario.

Kyle Clifford and the Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Kyle Clifford ahead of the March Trade Deadline from the LA Kings, along with Jack Campbell for Trevor Moore and a couple of picks.

Campbell alone makes the trade worthwhile, and he’s locked up through next season.  Clifford, however, is highly unlikely to return due to two reasons:

  1.  The Leafs had the Kings retain half his salary, making him a worthwhile fourth liner.  But if he wants to re-sign at his real salary, or perhaps even get a raise, then he isn’t worth the money.  In the NHL it is never sensible to pay non-elite players more than the league minimum.  Clifford may be an elite fourth liner, but any extra money you pay him is money you aren’t paying to an impact player and is always going to be a bad investment.
  2. The conditional pick on the trade becomes a second rounder if the Leafs re-sign him. I don’t think this completely disqualifies him from coming back, but its a factor.

Clifford is not worth his current salary, and he isn’t worth a second rounder.  Therefore the correct thing to do is to let him walk, and it appears that the Leafs will do just that.

In the tweet above, it says that Toronto’s salary cap situation forced the issue, but come on.  The Leafs have a bunch of cap space – and when they move Johnsson or Hyman and/or Dermott, they’ll have even more – it just isn’t right to use it on a fourth liner.

It seems to me that the media will look for any excuse to make a comment about the Leafs cap situation, but the irony is that only the Knights have a similar amount of non-bad long-term contracts (read:none) and time will prove the Leafs correct for concentrating their spending on elite players, which is what every team should be doing.

In my opinion, the choice to return is entirely on Clifford.  The Leafs already have to pay LA  a 3rd rounder, so changing it to a second is more of a downgrade than an outright payment, so they probably *(though I can’t be sure) would pay it if Clifford took a paycut down to a million annually.

Next. Leafs Way Better than the Islanders or Stars. dark

Perhaps he will find that teams are unwilling, in the current climate, to pay big money for a fourth liner, and the Leafs will bring him back. I just can’t see the Leafs wanting him under any other situation.  And its worth noting that he wasn’t even particularly good while here, and that Korshkov or Brooks could probably be just as good..

As much as people love to lionize this kind of player, their impact is generally microscopic.

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